Mill screw motor control



y 1951 B. M. RICE 2,552,459

IILL SCREW MOTOR CONTROL Filed Feb. 14, 1947 2 Sheets-Shet 1 I N V ENTOR.

E Z. 1 Z. 7- 'l 5/4/05 M1. jZ/Ze BY A7 Patented May 8, 1951 UNITEDSTATESPATENT OFFICE MILL SCREW MOTOR CONTROL Blaine M. Rice, Apollo, Pa.

Application February 14, 1947, Serial No. 728,458

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to an improved control mechanism for controllingthe roller adjusting screws of a strip rolling mill to correct excessivelateral camber of strip passing through the mill.

A main object of the invention is to provide a novel and improvedcontrol mechanism for automatically actuating the screw-down motor meansof a strip rolling mill so as to increase the roll pressure at the sideof the strip which tends to camber laterally as it passes through themill and to decrease the roll pressure at the other side of the strip soas to correct the tendency for such lateral camber of the strip.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved controlapparatus of simple construction for automatically energizing thescrew-down motors of a strip rolling mill to correct for strip camber,whereby when camber occurs at one side of the strip, the circuit for thescrew-down motor at that side will be closed, causing the roll pressureat that side to be increased thereby correcting the tendency of thestrip to camber laterally toward that side, and to provide further meansfor stopping the mill if the camber correcting means is inoperative.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentfrom the following description and claims, and from the accompanyingdrawings, wherein;

Figure l is a front elevational view of a mill screw-down motor controlstructure in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of the control structure of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the control structure of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an enlarged detail elevational view of a pilot memberemployed at one side of the control structure of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is an enlarged cross-sectionaldetail view taken on line 55 ofFigure 3.

Referring to the drawings, II and I2 designate vertical supporting postspositioned on opposite sides of the strip supporting conveyor of a striprolling mill through which strip metal, such as shown at I3 is rolled.Secured to'the posts H and 12 in the same transverse plane and inhorizontal alignment are respective sleeved brackets 14 and I5. Securedto the top portions of the brackets is a transverse guide bar It andsecured to the lower portions of the brackets is a second transverseguide bar ll. Slidably engaged with the guide bars [6 and 11 between theposts H and I2 are pilot members [8 and I9 positioned in vertical longi-2 tudinal planes adjacent the side edges of the strip l3.

Journaled in bracket member I4 is a flanged sleeve 25 which isinternally threaded. Threadedly engaged through sleeve 20 is the reducedend portion 2| of a transverse shaft 22 whose oposite end portion isjournaled in and is axially slidable in bracket member I5. Reduced endportion 2| is locked to sleeve 26 by a lock-nut 23. Secured to the endof portion 2| is a hand crank 24. The main body portion of shaft 22 hasleft-hand threads 25 threadedly engaged with similar internal threadsformed in pilot member [8 and has right-hand threads 26 threadedlyengaged with right-hand internal threads formed in pilot member [9.Thus, by rotating hand crank 24 in one direction or the other, the pilotmembers 18 and I9 may be moved closer together or further apart inaccordance with the width of the strip being rolled. Lateral adjustmentof the shaft 22 and the pilot members l8 and I9 may be accomplished byloosening the lock-nut 23 and rotating the shaft 22 to thereby movereduced portion 2| endwise in the sleeve 20. When the desired lateraladjustment has been obtained the locknut 23 is again tightened.

Pilot member 18 is formed at its forward end portion with a pair oflaterally outwardly projecting ears 2?, 27 between which is pivotallysecured an inclined lever arm 28 carrying at its lower end a verticalroller 29 adapted to engage the side edge of the moving strip B3. Aspring 3! compressed between pilot member l8 and the other end portionof arm 28 biases roller 29 toward said side edge of the strip. Securedto said other end portion of arm 28 is a resilient Threaded through theend portion of ar 3i is a set screw or pin .32 and threaded through saidbar at its intermediate portion is a second set screw or pin 33. Setscrew 32 is adapted to engage the button 34 of a control switch 35 whenroller 29 is moved outwardly a predetermined amount by the side edge ofstrip l3. Switch 35 is adapted to be connected in circuit with theroller screw-down motor at the corresponding side of a rolling millstrip aligner of the type shown in Dahlstrom Patent No. 2,289,410 ofJuly 14, 1942, so that when the lateral camber of the strip at that sideexceeds a predetermined amount and switch 35 is thereby closed, therelated roller screw-down motor is operated and the roll pressure atthat side is thereby increased so as to reduce the camber. Switch 35 isalso connected with the roller screwdown motor at the opposite side ofthe mill so as to operate the last mentioned motor in a direction todecrease the roll pressure at said opposite side.

Set screw 33 is adapted to engage the button 36 of a switch 31 when thecamber control switch 35 fails to function or the screw-down mechanismfails to operate. Stop switch 31 controls the entire roller mill drivemechanism, and when said stop switch is closed, the roller mill isstopped thus preventing damage to the camber control mechanism.

Pilot member l3 carries elements similar in all respects to thosecarried by member l and symmetrically related therewith, for controllingthe camber at the opposite side edge of the strip I3. These elementsinclude a control switch 33 for the roll screw-down motors of the milland a stop switch 39 similar to stop switch 31. These switches areactuated by respective set screws or pins 40 and ll carried on aresilient rod 42 secured to an inclined arm 43 pivoted to'pilot member19 and having a pilot roller d1! engaging the side edge of strip it. Aspring biases roller it into engagement with said side edge.

While a specific embodiment of a strip mill screw-down motor controlstructure has been disclosed in the foregoing description, it will beunderstood that various modifications within the spirit of the inventionmay occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, it is intended that nolimitations be placed on the invention other than as defined by thescope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Mechanism responsive to the position of a web edge for controllingweb handling apparatus comprising brackets adapted to be rigidlysupported at respectively opposite sides of a web, guide bars secured attheir ends to said brackets and extending therebetween in spaced apartin substantially parallel relationship to each other, pilot membersslidably mounted each at one end on said guide bars and extending in thesame direction from said guide bars in spaced apart and substantiallyparallel relationship to each other, said pilot members being adapted tobe disposed at respectively opposite sides or" a web disposed betweensaid brackets, manually operated screw means engaging said pilot meansfor moving the latter toward and away from each other, feeler armsdisposed one adjacent each pilot member at the outer side thereof andextending outwardly from the other ends of said pilot members, meanspivotally connecting said feeler arms intermediate their length to saidpilot members near said other ends of the latter, rollers carried one byeach feeler arm at the end thereof disposed outwardly of said other endof the corresponding pilot member, said rollers being engageable withthe corresponding edges of a web disposed between said pilot members,resilient bars secured one to each feeler arm at the other end of thelatter, each resilient bar being secured at one end to the correspondingfeeler arm and extending therefrom substantially in longitudinalalignment with the asso ciated feeler arm and parallel to the outer sideof the adjacent pilot member, pins mounted in each resilient bar andspaced apart longitudinally of the latter, and switches mounted on theouter side of each pilot member and having buttons in alignment withcorresponding pins carried by the adjacent resilient bar, said switchesbeing successively operated as the roller carrying end of the associatedfeeler arm is moved outwardly away from the other feeler arm.

2. Mechanism responsive to the position of a web edge for controllingweb handling apparatus comprising brackets adapted to be rigidlysupported at respectively opposite sides of a Web, guide bars secured attheir ends to said brackets and extending therebetween in spaced apartin substantially parallel relationship to each other, pilot membersslidably mounted each at one end on said guide bars and extending in thesame direction from said guide bars in spaced apart and substantiallyparallel relationship to each other, said pilot members being adapted tobe disposed at respectively opposite sides of a web disposed betweensaid brackets, manually operated screw means engaging said pilot meansfor moving the latter toward and away from each other, feeler armsdisposed one adjacent each pilot member at the outer side thereof andextending outwardly from the other ends of said pilot members, meanspivotally connecting said feeler arms intermediate their length to saidpilot members near said other ends of the latter, rollers carried one byeach feeler arm at the end thereof disposed outwardly of said other endof i the corresponding pilot member, said rollers being engageable withthe corresponding edges of a web disposed between said pilot members,resilient bars secured one to each feeler arm at the other end of thelatter, each resilient bar being secured at one end to the correspondingfeeler arm and extending therefrom substantially in longitudinalalignment with the associated feeler arm and parallel to the outer sideof the adjacent pilot member, pins mounted in each resilient bar andspaced apart longitudinally of the latter, switches mounted on the outerside of each pilot member and having buttons in alignment withcorresponding pins carried by the adjacent resilient bar, said switchesbeing successively operated as the roller carrying end of the associatedfeeler arm is moved outwardly away from the other feeler arm, andsprings disposed one between each feeler arm and the adjacent pilotmember resiliently urging the roller carrying .ends of said feeler armsinwardly toward each other.

BLAINE 1V1. RICE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 404,651 Paca June 4, 18891,133,300 McGauley Mar. 30, 1915 1,163,565 Schwartz Dec. 7, 19151,967,732 Ahlburg Sept. 21, 1931 1,969,536 Winne Aug. 7, 1934 2,069,632Thomas Feb. 2, 1937 2,274,268 Hercik Feb. 24, 1942 2,289,410 DahlstromJuly 14, 1942 2,317,468 Krieger Apr. 27, 1943 2,341,931 Lloyd Feb. 15,1944 2,391,881 Clay Jan. 1, 1946 2,511,271 Kaminky et al. June 13, 1950

